Category Archives: Culture & history

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Rye dough ritual figurine celebration took place in Kuzreka yesterday, August 8. That was the 8th event of this sort, and this time it attracted a crowd of 2000, including the representatives of the regional authorities and a bunch of folk music groups.

Part of the festival was the scarecrow competition. The only part of the festivities that made me regret I wasn’t there in person.

The Kukushka festival of Russian and Finnish culture and music is taking place in Vyborg (Finnish: Viipuri), Leningrad region, some 100km northwest from St. Petersburg, on the weekend of August 5-6, on the Central Market Square of the town.

Moscow ornithologist Pavel Kvartalnov has recently made, on our request that was, in turn, prompted by an enquiry by the person who contributes to the Yorkshire Regiment WW1 Remembrance site, a full set of the Arkhangelsk British Cemetery graves. They can be found at [removed on author’s requestб probably available if you ask for it].

A couple of years ago I wrote mentioning the British Cemetery in Murmansk from the WW1 days. Recently I got a request for grave photos, and received the following story from Alexandra’s Murmansk acquaintances that I’d like to share with you:

The program includes the restaurant day, folk dancing, an exhibition of Karel and Finnish fabric-making, and a movie festival.

Dates: Nov. 2 to 12

Address: ul. Pervomayskaya 2, . No entrance fee.

See the Agriculture Club VK and Facebook page. The Agriculture Club defines itself as a “hotbed of culture” and after a cursory examination of its VK and Facebook pages I was impressed with the scope and intensity of its activities. Definitely on my “to visit” list if I end up in Petrozavodsk for a few hours.

If you happen to be in Murmansk in the beginning of October, while the city is celebrating 100 years since its founding in 1916, there is no shortage of things to see. Many of them can be enjoyed without any knowledge of Russian. Here is the summary of main events to keep you entertained:

No harsh words were spared in this article in the Norwegian nrk.no to describe the Sam Syit Saami village near Lovozero in the center of the Kola Peninsula. The main thrust of the angry author is that the village is as far from being authentic as one can be, and represents “a nonsensical mix of rabbits, fleece clothing, and Indian totem poles”. It is in Norwegian but auto-translates into English quite coherently.

The event will feature films united around the northern theme. At least in the past all films shown had English subtitles, and the festival’s site has an English version, which gives a reason to expect that the event will be accessible to the international traveler. After the Murmansk show the festival will tour other Murmansk region cities, including Kandalaksha.